 by Rob van Alstyne
Despite the picture of the painted carousel horse’s head adorning the cover of her latest album, It’s A Game, Edith Frost would like to make one thing loud and clear … she’s NOT an alt.country musician—no matter how many lazy critics’ write-ups you may read to the contrary. “I never wanted anyone to put my music in the category of alternative country,” says Frost. “Or any other category for that matter. There’s a lot of country music in my past and in my life now, and if you’re hearing country strains in my own work then that’s why. But I’m not making all that much music that would fall straight into that genre ... a few songs here and there but not enough to get me labeled as ‘that’ kind of artist, you wouldn’t think. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love country and I feel really comfortable making that kind of music, I just wouldn’t want to do it 24/7. But if people want to use the fact that I’m from Texas as an excuse to forgive me for polluting their ears with my ponderous laments? Then yes, I’m all for it.”
 Leaving
debates over what defines the ever-nebulous category of alt.country aside for
the time being, It’s A Game is a pleasure to listen to regardless
of what box you prefer to place it in. The first album from Chicagoan Frost
in four years, It’s A Game is a turn away from the wide lens
swirly twang-pop of her 2001 release Wonder, Wonder towards sparer
arrangements and chilly melodies. The lightly brushed drum-and-vintage-organ-driven
“Lucky Charm” comes off like a lost ’50s pastoral pop nugget
with Frost’s understated just-left-of-being-traditionally-beautiful croon
leading the way, with a sound falling somewhere between Patsy Cline and Bettie
Serveert’s Carol Van Dijk. Elsewhere, Frost ploughs more bluesy terrain,
as in the strum-heavy solo acoustic ditty “What’s the Use,”
in which double-tracked vocals lament love lost yet again in by-the-books yet
still-affecting style (“I fall in love and I end up blue/ It’s just
the story of what I do”).
Although occasionally too morose for its own good—some of the more molasses-paced
ballads could have done with some editing—there’s plenty on It’s
A Game that shows why Frost has become such a central figure in the Chicago
independent music scene since moving there during the early ’90s. Since
the 1996 release of her debut self-titled EP, Frost, 42, has collaborated with
everyone from über-producers Jim O’Rourke and Steve Albini to members
of the Sea & Cake, Manishevitz and the Zincs—whom she’s currently
on tour with and employing as a backing band. “It’s the way of life
for a musician here in Chicago that everyone plays with, or is connected in
some way to everyone else,” states Frost. “Well, maybe not everybody,
but a whole lot of people! Working together and putting out records on different
labels, playing in different clubs, it’s just a huge mish-mash of different
overlapping circles of friends. And there’s very little drama involved,
people don’t get mad at each other for playing in other bands, it’s
just part of what’s normal here. It’s the only way to live, in my
opinion.”
 The
four-year gap in between Wonder, Wonder and It’s A Game
had me wondering whether Frost was at one point planning on quietly riding away
into the sad-cowgirl-musical-sunset, but as is often the case, things were far
more active for Frost during this period than outside appearances indicated.
“It didn’t seem like that much time had gone by when we went in
to record It’s a Game,” states Frost. “I spent a
few years touring on the last record; it came out in the summer of 2001 and
I was workin’ that until the end of 2002 I think. Then I took about a
year off to do other things ... mostly non-music related but a few gigs singing
backups here and there. Then I slowly got it back in my mind that I needed to
get crankin’ on a new album, so I started writing more songs, and played
a few shows. Then it was time to talk about going into the studio, which took
like a whole ’nother six months or so to get together, due to scheduling
and all that. Then it’s recorded and it takes another few months before
the artwork’s ready and it’s released. Shit takes time I guess.
I frankly don’t know how it is that I was ever able to crank out an album
only one year after the last one! You have to be doing everything all the time
if you expect to keep up that kind of pace ... all the multitasking that I’m
not so good at, like writing when you’re on the road, playing shows and
touring and dealing with publicity whilst worrying about money and trying to
live a reasonably stable and fulfilling private life. I tend to concentrate
on one thing at a time, so it might take a little longer for me to get around
to any one particular thing. All of it’s important to me; I just have
a bit of a one-track mind. I want to be doing music all the time, along with
everything else! But I just don’t tend to do that in practice.”
 The
time away has proven Frost no worse for wear, capable of consistently delivering
emotionally naked lyrics with just the right mix of hope and resignation in
her voice, and still one of my prime choices for tear-in-beer solitary listening
sessions. Frost doesn’t mind people lauding her lyricism, although she’s
clearly annoyed at those critics who think the process is as simple as transposing
her diary entries to accompany a series of chord changes. “I think male
music critics in particular tend to glom on to the fact that I’m female,”
offers Frost, “and treat me a little differently because of it; talking
about my love life and focusing on personal stuff when it’s supposed to
be a review of the music! There is a suspicious part of me that thinks maybe
people wouldn’t be harping on that shit if I were a guy, even if I were
writing the same sorts of songs as I am now. But I’m not a guy. And I
do think there are certain people who might listen to the lyrics and assume
that because it’s coming from a woman, it’s less about art and creativity
than it is about just copying down one’s life and holding that up as art.
Like they might not be giving me as much credit as they should: for being a
good songwriter; for being creative and having the ability to pull a lot of
different elements into the making of a song. They’re reading it like
it was a journal and nothing more, and that’s just not what it’s
supposed to be about at all. I’m not here to bare my soul to anybody;
I’m here to write some good tearjerkers! But hey, I can’t complain
too much, at least they’re writing about me ... people can think what
they want, they can think I’m being as confessional as they want, but
really my only agenda is to make good music and hopefully write songs that I
can be proud of for a really long time.” ||
Edith Frost performs with the Zincs as her opening and backing band
on Thu., Mar. 23, at the Turf Club with Valet. 9 p.m. $6. 21+. The Corner of
University and Snelling Avenue, St. Paul. 651-647-0486.
For more information on Edith Frost check out her official website at EdithFrost.com.
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